


Homecoming

by hiddencait



Series: Assorted Tumblr Prompt Ficlets [4]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7568002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Tumblr prompt fill: Ashebones, home</p>
    </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NothingImpossibleOnlyImprobable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingImpossibleOnlyImprobable/gifts).



> Tumblr prompt fill: Ashebones, home

“Captain, landfall. We’re home.”

As always, he waits for the rest of his crew to finish their duties, anchoring the _Siren_ safely in Nassau’s harbor and unloading their ill-gotten goods, and then make their way to the long boats and to shore before he allows himself to leave. Flint had never cared whether his men awaited his pleasure or not, but Billy’d gotten into the habit of putting his brothers first long, long before a vote ever landed him the Captain’s cabin upon Flint and Silver’s joint retirement to the interior to the little house Mrs. Barlow once lived in. 

It’s not just courtesy that keeps him there ‘till the end, though he doubts the men would guess it. Any but Ben, Joji or Joshua, anyway. They’ve been with him long enough to read his motives as well as anyone. Those three he always sends off with the first few long boats, trusting them to arrange storage and sale of the cargo, and to give Mistress Max a warning that their crew would soon descend upon the brothel and inn like hungry animals. Billy remains, both to assure the anchoring was done properly, and to _encourage_ the men to do it quick like. 

They don’t like to keep him waiting, hell like it less than waiting for their own return to the beach. For all Billy and Silver had often been at odds, he’d learned a thing or two from the one-legged man. 

Have a crew that likes you, that wants to please you above all else – that is a powerful thing for a captain. 

No, his wait does the men good. It reminds them that he took few privileges from his post, another reason for their respect and loyalty, and it gives them a reason beyond their own pleasure to focus on the task at hand. 

Billy checks with the sparse crew who’d volunteered to stay on watch, making sure they want for nothing and promising them their leave in due time. Then, and only then, does he take his place at the stern of the last long boat heading to the dock. The men pull on their oars with a will, chattering good-naturedly about how they plan to spend their time on the beach. Billy lets the words wash over him like spray from the waves, content to merely listen, his eyes locked on the dock ahead.

As always, she stands there, where the dock reached the sand, her face serene as she welcomes the men back, responding with bright smiles to their awkward bows and grins kept just a hair away from lecherous. They love her, the crew does, helpless to resist her faith and trust in them. Billy’s found she has that effect on a great many pirates, does his Abigail. There’s few who don’t know of the unlikely friendship she long ago forged with Charles Vane, despite their uneasy past and Billy’s initial dismay at the idea. He’s grown to accept it in time. After all, there is much to gain from knowing another captain looked out for her safety with almost as much fierceness as Billy himself. Between Vane’s crew and his own, Abigail is as safe as any woman in Nassau could be, and safer than most of those. 

It is still less than he wants for her, will always be less. She tells him time and time again that this place is enough, that _he_ is enough, but Billy couldn’t help but wonder if her lack of options plays in to her answers.

He isn’t a good enough man to let her go without a fight even if some day Nassau isn’t enough. He’ll go with her that day, whenever it is, wherever she chooses to go. 

Billy finally reaches her, trailing behind the last of his men like a particularly large duckling. She holds out her arms, and he all but falls into them, sinking to his knees and wrapping himself around her. Her hands grip his shoulders and she leans her forehead down to his, the scent of her surrounding him.

Yes, he’d follow her anywhere she chose. After all, Nassau isn’t his home any longer. She is.


End file.
